Talk:Supernatural beings in Slavic religion

Polevik. Source

• Polevik Variations: Polevoi, Polevoy, Polewik The polevik of Polish fairy lore are described as looking bipedal goats, they are NATURE SPIRITS — Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology

• Polevik (Russian, Slavic) Also known as: Polevoi, Polevoy. Spirit of the field. If you are drunk and fall asleep in a field, a Polevik may attack and murder you. A Polevik is usually dressed in white. He may have grass in place of hair. He could appear as a dwarf with two different color eyes. The female version may be Poludnitsa, who is not as vicious. Sometimes shown in white. — Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities

• The outward appearance of the Polevik varied according to region. Sometimes he was simply someone 'dressed in white'. Sometimes the Polevik had a body as black as earth and two eyes of different colours. Instead of hair, long green grass grew on his head. At times he would appear in the guise of a deformed dwarf who spoke a human language. The Polevik liked to amuse himself in the same fashion as the Leshy by misguiding belated travellers. — New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, p. 291

• The Polevik appears at noon or before sunsei; and at time it is unsafe to take a nap in the field, for the Polevik, roaming about on horseback, will ride over those who are sleeping there, or will send disease upon them. He runs away before the swing of the scythe and hides among the stalks that are still standing; when the last ears are cut, he gets into the hands of the reaper and is brought to the barn with the final sheaf. — Slavic mythical beliefs, p. 203

• The Polevik. horse or afflict you with disease. His children run through the fields, catching birds for their parents to eat. To appease a mischievous or annoying Polevik, place two eggs and a cock too old to crow in a ditch, but without letting anyone see you. Until harvest time, the Polevik is as tall as a cornstalk, but then shrinks to the size of a stubble. He runs away from the farmers with their scythes, hiding among the stalks, but he is always caught and brought to the barn with the final. — Slavic Sorcery: Shamanic Journey of Initiation, p. 151, 206

--Лобачев Владимир (talk) 02:37, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Boginka (multiple face — boginki). Source

Bojinka — a female demonic character known in the Lesser Poland, South of Mazovia, in the areas of Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Slovak borderland. The main functions of the goddess-the persecution of mothers and pregnant women, abduction and substitution of children.

• Source. O. Sannikova, V. Usacheva (1995). N. I. Tolstoy (ed.). Slavyanskie drevnosti. Etnolingvisticheskiy slovar Славянские древности: Этнолингвистический словарь [Slavic antiquity. Ethnolinguistic dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 1. The Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya. pp. 215–217. ISBN 5-7133-0704-2.

• In other languages:

1. STEJSKAL, Martin. Labyrintem tajemna. Praha: Paseka, 1991. ISBN 80-85192-08-X. S. 31. (in Czech)
2. BOHYNKA (in Slovak)
3. Kempiński A., Encyklopedia mitologii ludów indoeuropejskich, Iskry 2001. ​ISBN 83-207-1629-2​ (in Polish)
4. Podgórscy B. i A., Wielka Księga Demonów Polskich - leksykon i antologia demonologii ludowej, Wydawnictwo KOS, Katowice 2005. ​ISBN 83-89375-40-0​ (in Polish)

• An example of personification of a product of human subconsciousness was the figure of the boginka, which only women in labour were supposed to see. This kind of vision was surely caused by puerperal fever, milk-fever shock or an illness, which was not associated. It is strange that the hoginka should be seen only by the lying-in woman and not by her husband, present in the same room. Secondly, the boginka allegedly appeared only in the evening or at night, hence at the time when all kinds of illnesses intensified; finally its influence was directed only towards the mother and her child and not to other members of the family. Ascribed to the boginka was also stealing or exchanging a human child for a changeling (odmieniec), or even causing its death from frustrating vengeance. — Ethnologia Polona, p. 96

• With the exception of this means of getting the real child back (which shows that the boginka is still very much a mythological pagan being), the other means are mainly magical and the same as against the devil — the sign of the cross, Christian amulets, exorcisms. The priest can free the woman from the hands of the boginka, but he must wear all his ceremonial clothes turned wrong side out. — THE POLISH PEASANT IN EUROPE AND AMERICA , p. 238

• BOHYNKA (boginka, divá žena), demonic entity of anthropomorphic appearance, forest spirit with attributes of natural demon. In the obsessions of Orava, Spiš, and especially Zamagurí, the goddess was describing himself as an expressive evil, a ugly creature of a tall, poor figure, not overwhelmed by the hair, with large breasts that swoop over his shoulder. She had long, strapped hair stretching out on her heels and various body errors (she was barking, shrieking). She had grown nervous in her clothes, and she was naked. It inhabited rock and forest holes, hillsides and marshlands. The environment in which the goddess lived and the characterization of its appearance corresponded to the characters represented in the imagination of the Slavs by the demons of nature (in Slovakia known Runa, grgalica, poludnica). In relation to humans, the goddess appeared to be a clearly damaging being, threatening especially the six-eyed. They stole and exchanged their healthy children for their unborn goddesses (transform) that did not grow up, did not speak, and were very careful. — Bohinka. Center for Traditional Folk Culture. (in Slovak)

  --Лобачев Владимир (talk) 03:15, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Samodiva, Samovila, Vila (multiple face – Samodivy, Samovily, Vily). Source.

• Samovila: Slavic goddess of woodlands. Samovila rules the forest and protects the animals that live within woodlands. She causes great harm to anyone who abuses her creatures. A shapeshifter, she can transform herself into any animal, and she teaches the skill to the devoted and faithful. Her knowledge of plants and herb medicine makes Samovila a favorite among kitchen Witches. — The Goddess Guide: Exploring the Attributes and Correspondences of the Divine Feminine

• Vila. A female being peculiar to Serbian mythology is the Vila, who partakes of the characteristics of both the Fairy and the Elf. These Vilas, represented as Mountain Nymphs, live in the forests on the hills, and love singing and dancing. They are young and beautiful, with long flowing hair, and are usually clad in white. They often mount up into the air, from whence they discharge fatal arrows at men, but they injure none except those who intrude on their revels. — The Forest in Folklore and Mythology, p. 109

• Vila. Variations: Veela, Vilia, Vilya, Vilishkis, Vily, Willi In Serbian folklore, the vilas were the beautiful and young mountain NYMPHS clad in white; their voice was said to resemble the call of the woodpecker and was a warning of some mountain catastrophe, such as an avalanche. Vilas were known to carry off children whose mothers had, in a fit of anger, condemned them to the Devil or Hell. The vilas were said to injure those who interrupt their revelries as they dance beneath ... — Encyclopedia of Giants and Humanoids in Myth, Legend and Folklore

• Variations: Rusalka, Samovily, Vily There is a Slavic myth that when a person is cursed by God or a child dies unbaptized, he will return as a type of vampiric fay known as a vila. When it returns, it will look like a beautiful little girl with long HAIR. Living in clouds, meadows, ponds, and trees, the vila, a very capable combatant, will attack lone travelers. — Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology, p. 145

  --Лобачев Владимир (talk) 03:41, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Ovinnik. Source

• Ovinnik (Slavic) Barn spirits. The Ovinnik are mischief—making spirits who live in barns. They have been known to set barns on fire. If there is a large, ragged black cat wandering around the property, it is likely an Ovinnik. They are one of the Domovoi spirits and are similar to the Bannik. — Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities, p. 368

• Rituals and beliefs relating to the ovinnik were similar to those surrounding the bannik. This spirit too was consulted for New Year's divinations; his cold, prickly touch foretold unhappiness, his soft touch good fortune.” Roosters were sacrificed to this spirit also; the bird's head was chopped off over the threshold and blood was sprinkled in all four corners of the barn.” Often such ritual butcherings at the threshing barn took place on November 1, the feast of the patrons of chickens, — Russian Folk Belief, p. 61

• Ovinnik. In Slavic folklore an ovinnik is a fairy spirit living in the thrashing barn; it takes on the appearance of a large and disheveled looking black cat with burning eyes. Offerings of blini, a type of pancake, is left for it; if the ovinnik is ever angered or shown disrespect it burns down the barn with the farmer's children inside of it. On the first. — Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology --Лобачев Владимир (talk) 11:55, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Dola. Source

• Dola (Slavic) Also knownas: Dolya, Sreca (Serbia). The spirit ofmortal fate givento a newborn.See also Dolya(who is similar to Sreca ofthe Serbian people). — Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities
• The Polish Dola had a Serbian Counterpart in the Sreca. l. Appearance.- She was described as a beautiful girl spinning a golden thread, and she bestowed welfare upon the mortal to whom she was assigned, caring for his fields and grazing his flocks. In national songs and traditions, the Sreca frequently occurred as an independent ... — Slavic mythical beliefs, p. 212
• Sreca is probably the same divinity found in Russia as dolya. (Machal) Sudice The goddesses of fate were beautiful old women with white skin and white clothes, who wore white kerchiefs and necklaces of gold and silver. They glistened as they walked, sometimes decking themselves with garlands or carrying lit candles. Sudice, who could appear as a single or multiple goddess, was most active at birth, when a newborn's destiny was sealed. For that reason, gifts of candles, bread, Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, p. 308
• Russian tradition personifies the fate bestowed upon a man at his birth as a supernatural being called Dolya, who is described as a poorly dressed woman capable of transforming herself into various shapes. ... The good Dolya protects her favourite by day and by night and serves him faithfully from his birth to his death. She takes ... The Russian Dolya has a Serbian counterpart in the Sreca, her relation to the Dolya being the same as that of the Latin fors to fortuna and of sors to fatum. Vampire lore: from the writings of Jan Louis Perkowski, p. 88 --Лобачев Владимир (talk) 05:13, 27 April 2018 (UTC)